Grain-door.



H. M. HIGKMAN.

GRAIN DOOR.

APPLIGATIGN FILED MAY 6, 1908.

Patented Jan. 18, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. M., HICKMAN.

GRAIN DOOR.

APlLIoATIoN FILED MAY s, 1908.

Patented Jam 18, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

part of the i f. 'r

ICE.

HEZEKIAH M. HICKMAN, OF WELLINGTON, KANSAS.

GRAIN-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 18, 1910.

' Application led May 6, 1908. Serial No. 431,240.

- State of Kansas, have invented new and useful Improvements inGrain-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a closure means for a' car door opening andknown in the art as a grain door for use in facilitating loading of abox car or any other analogous carrying means without liability ofleakage or escape of the grain through joints betweent e door and thejamb andalso expediting unloading operations.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a grain car door of asimple and effective. construction capable of belng applied withoutlinterfering with the exterior closure of the car door opening and alsoadapted to have the partsthereof placed in such positions when not inuse as to fully clear the door opening and avoid obstructions of amaterial nature within the car.

A further vobject of the invention is to cheapen the cost of equipping agrain car with a convenient form of grain door and at the same timepreserve desirable characteristics of strength and durability.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the inventionconsists in the construction and arrangementof the several parts whichwill be more fully hereinafter specied in preferred form.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section -of aportion of a car looking toward the interior thereof and showing theimproved grain door applied in operative position. Figs. 2 and 3 aredetail perspective views of the parts of the' gram door. Fig. 4 is atransverse vertical section of aA portion of a car and the grain door,the latter bein shown closed. Fig. 5 is a view similar to ig. 4 showingthe parts of the door open. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section through aportion4 of a car and the lower rain door. Fig. 7 is a detailperspective view of a portion of a car looking toward the interiorthereof at the door opemn Simi ar characters of reference are employedto` indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

The numeral 1 designates a car of any usual construction or analogousvehicle adapted to carry grain and provided with a door opening -2 withwhich any suitable exterior closing means may coperate. The jamb 3 ofthe door opening 1s preferably provided with a metal sheathin orcovering 4 to increase the wearing qua ities thereof and facilitate theformation of a tight joint with the parts of the improved door whichwill be presently explained. At regular intervals on the interior of thedoor jamb are transversely alined pairs `of brackets or .sockets 5, 6and 7, the brackets or sockets 5l being close to the iioor 8 of the car,the brackets or sockets 6 at 'an intermediate point, and the brackets orsockets 7 at the upper or top portion of the jamb, as clearly shown byFig. 1. These brackets or sockets all have seats which are fully open atthe top and at their inner opposing sides, and on the inner wall of thelcar body lower and intermediate pairs of similar sockets 9 and 1() aresecured. l.The sockets 9 and 10 are located a short distance from thedoor opening 2 and are yreferably on the right side of the latter loo{ing from the interlor of the car. Over the intermediate brackets orsockets 6, fastening devices 11 are arranged, and inthe present instanceare in the form of simple gravity latches. In the floor 8 of the .carfrom the door opening 2 inwardly a suitable distance a recess 12 isformed having a depth sufficient to receive the lower portion of thegrain door so that the latter may be flush with the floor of the car,the recess 12 having its inner wall extended beyond the end walls toform'counter-recesses 13. In the top of the car orsecured to the roof isa pendent hook or analogous device 14 for suspending the upper portionof the improved grain door. l

The grain door comprises a lower door member l5 and an upper door member16,

the latter beingilslightly less in vertical ex-` tent or width an thedoor 15. The lower door member 15 at the upper and lower corners orextremities has outwardly projecting trunnions` 17 and 18 which areadapted to removably engage the brackets or sockets 6 and 5respectively. Hook bolts 15a are also provided and extend through thedoor frame at each side of the door opening vand have inner broadenedhook extremities 15b to engage the intermediate portion of the doormember 15 to prevent the latter from springin or bulging and thusobviate escape o grain. The outer screw-threaded ends of the bolts 15ELhave clamping nuts 15c applied thereto to tighten them up. rlhe upperdoor member 16 has upper truunions 19 to removably engage the bracketsor sockets 7. Both door members are provided with end metallicsheathings 2O to increase the strength and wearing characteristics ofthe same and form a ti ht joint with the metallic sheathings d of tedoor jamb. The door member 15 at the center of its outer side and at thelower edge has a recessed metal guard 21-forming a socket into which apryinor bar .or analogous means may be inserted for forcing the doormember upwardly and to permit ready removal of the said vdoor memberwith the resistancethereagainst of the grain weight. rlibe upper doormember 16 at the inner side and near the lower edge is provided with aneye 22 for engagement with the hook or suspending member 14@ In a plyingthe improved grain door, the lower oor member 15 is vertically disposedagainst the inner side of the jamb 3 high v enough to permit thetrunnions 17 and 18 to enter the -upper open extremities of the bracketsor sockets 6 and 5, a release of the door member 15 when in thisvposition causing the trunnions 17 and 18 to gravitate to l and'restagainst the bottoms of the sockets l so of the brackets 6 and 5, andasthe latter brackets have the bottoms of their sockets vflush withtheiioor of the recess 12 or apenough to permit the trunnions 19 thereofto enter the brackets or sockets 7, the door members .being soproportioned in relation to the position of the brackets or sockets thatwhen the upper door member 16 is in place the lower edge thereof willclosely contact with the upper edge of the lower door member 15.. Topreventthe lower door 15 from being raised from the exterior anddisplacing the `upper door member 16, particularly by unauthorizedpersons, the latches or locking means llare employed and turn down intothe sockets 6 over the trunnions 17, as shown by Fig. 1, the saidlocking means being easily displaced from locking positionwhen foundnecessary from the exterior of the door mem-v ber 15 and after the doormember 16 has been pushed inwardly and rais'ed from engagement over thesaid door member 15. At

times the lower door member 15 may be used.-

alone when the contents of the car are such as to warrant or requireonly ab partial closure of the door openin, and in this event the doormember 16 will iv swung upwardly and the eye 22 engaged by thesuspending means or hook 14, as shown by Fig. 5. Furthermore. when theload in the car is in such condition as to demand a full clearance ofthe door opening 2, or when it is unnecessary to dispose the doormembers in operative position with relation to the said door opening,the lower door member 15 may be let down into the recess 12 ush with thedoor of the car, the trunnions 17 then occupying the counter-recesses13. ln this operation of the lower door member 15 it will be necessaryto disengage the upper trnnnion 17 from the brackets orv sockets 6 byslightly raising the lower door member 15, the lower brackets or sockets5 being deeper than'the brackets or. socket-s 6 to an extent suiiicientto permit the upper trunnions 17 to be released from the brackets orsockets 6 without full disengaging the trunnions 18 from the rackets orsockets 5. The lower door member 15 may.

also be fully disengaged from both pairs of sockets 5 and 6, and thetrunnions 18 and 17 disposed in the sockets 9 and 10 respectively sothat the said door member will always be in convenient position ineither operation for ready application to the lower part of the dooropenin 2. i

The hookolts 15a can be readily manipulated to release'thedoor member 15by simply loosening the clamping nuts 15c and turning the said bolts andthe inner broadcned extremities 15b to disengage the latter fromopposite sides of the intermediate portions of the said door member.These hook bolts will alwa s be in position for immediate use and wilnot interfere with a convenient operation of the door members.

r1`he bolts 15a constitute clamps which are very elfective in holdingthe intermediate portionsof the door section with which they engageclosely against the door frame, land at times will obstruct any tendencyto endwise movement of the door section These clamp bolts willalso befound exceptionally advantageous in holding a temporary door closure 1nplace independently of the trunnions and sockets hereinbefore explained.

From the foregoing it will be observed that the improved grain door maybe readily arranged within the car'; and while the improved door isparticularly adapted to serve as a closing means for a grain car, itwill ybe understood that it is applicable to cars for containing othermaterials in bulk. Moreover, the number of coperating parts of the` dooris reduced to a minimum and willi not be readily broken or get out oforder The construction is so simple that the improved door may bereadily ap lied to cars now in use, and it will be understood thatvariations in the proportions, dimensions and minor details may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. Havinthus described the inventiomwhat is claime as new, is: l

1. rThe combination with a car having a do ,ening, of sockets arrangedin pairs @races on o 3 osite sides of the o nin at the inner part or"the car, and door members having` trunnions movably and removablyengaging the sockets, the lower door member being' 'movably engage thesockets, the upper door member being provided with trunnions at theupper extremity solely thereof, and the lower door member havingtrunnions at both the upper and lower extremities of the same andadapted to removably engage the sockets on the inner side of the wall ofthe car at a distance from the door opening.

3. rlhe combination with a car having a door opening, of transverselyarranged pairs of sockets applied against the inner side o't-he dooropening at different elevations, upper and lower grain door membersapplied to the interior of the door opening and having trunnion means atthe end edges engaging said pairs of sockets, the sockets differing indepth so that the trunnion means of both door members may be either ullyremoved from the sockets or a portion only of the trunnion means of onedoor member removed from a part of the sockets while the remaininportion of the trunnion means of the same door member is held inengagement with cooperating sockets by slightly elevating the latterdoor member to swing the lastI named door member, and means for securingthe door members against movement.

e. A car having a door opening and a floor recess adjacent to saidopening, transversely arranged pairs of sockets open at the top anddisposed at the upper, lower and intermediate portions of the dooropening, grain door members movably and removably cooperating with saidsockets, the upper door member having trunnions at the opposite endedges near the top edge and the lower door member having trunnions atthe opposite end edges near both the upper and i lower side edges, thelowermost pair of sockets being deeper than the remaining sockets andthe lower pair of trunnions movable in said lower sockets to disengagethe trunnions adjacent to the upper side edge of the lower door memberlfrom the intermediate sockets to swing the lower door/member downwardlyinto the floor recess, andsecuring means for the lower door member.

5. A car having a door opening and a recess extending inwardly rom theopening and formed inthe car floor, sockets arranged in transverse pairsagainst the inner side of the door opening, the lower pair of socketshaving a greater depth than those above, and a door member having upperand lower outwardly projecting trunnions engaging the pairs of socketsand movable vertically to disengage the upper trunnions from the upperpair of sockets without disconnecting the lower trunnions from the lowerpair or' sockets, the door memberbeing movable downwardly into the Hoorrecess.

6. A' car having a door opening and a ioor recess extending inwardlyfrom the said opening, sockets arranged in transversely alined pairs atthe inner side of the door opening, other sockets arranged iutransversely alined pairs against the inner side of the wall of the caradjacent to the door opening, and a door member having trunnions at theupper and lower extremities to vremovably and movably engage the saidpairs of sockets, the door member being movable downwardly into thefloor recess.

7. rll`he combination with a car having a door opening, of socketsarranged in pairs on opposite sides of the opening at the inner part ofthe car, hook bolts disposed in intermediate relation to the sockets,and a door member having upper and lower trunnions movably and removablyengaging the sockets and adapted to be intermcdiately ,engaged by thehook bolts.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand 1n presence of twosubscribingr Witnesses.

HEZEKlAH M. HICKMAN.

liitnesses D. D. WEBSTER, W. A. HARPER.

